Credit cards, serving for payment without handling any cash; or, for instance, for automatic withdrawal of paper money, contain data coded on magnetic tracks peculiar to these cards. Generally the information concerns the party issuing the card and the actual card holder (name, card number, the secret-code determining base, . . . ). Some items of data are inscribed in raised characters on the card (card-holder name and number) so that they can be easily reproduced on carboned slips after the card is put in suitable equipment for the purpose. Then we speak of "embossed" or, better yet, of "stamped" cards.
More recently we have noted the appearance of micro-circuits ("fleas") on such magnetic-track cards. Hence, those of this type come as combination cards in that they have, at one and the same time, an electronic memory and at least one magnetic track (Track IS02). These two media, then, the microprocessor and magnetic track, are meant to receive the same data, and including the electronic medium is explained by reasons of security in use (inviolability). However, though personalizing of the card by its magnetic track is a high-speed matter (less than a second), the micro-circuit operation takes at least several tens of seconds (30-to--40 seconds).
There are two ways to make dual-purpose cards. With one way, the embossed and magnetically-coded cards are inserted in magnetic reader-encoders which, using data provided by the magnetic track, encode the microcircuits with the same information. The SYSCAM markets this type of equipment under the SYSCAM 90 label. This bank-card, memory-type personalizing device utilized commercial reader-encoders and a microcomputer, of a type compatible with the IBM-PC, which can run the personalizing operations of several readers. Reading of the bank-card IS02 magnetic track induces a search for cardholder data on the SYSCAM microcomputer disks. Then the latter are encoded on the microcircuit by way of the "flea" encoder. This apparatus does the personalizing operation rather slowly (in about 30-to-40 seconds) which, for that matter, is consistent with manually inserting cards in reader-encoders. Just the same, now it is desirable to accelerate the rate at which these cards are produced in order to get reasonable production costs. Each of these reader-encoders could be linked with a robot to feed to the latter, cards to be personalized at the end of each personalizing operation. However, that arrangement would not be economically feasible, and anyhow it would not solve the slowness problems associated with the personalizing process.
A second type of production, found especially in the U.S.A., amounts to making use of personalizing devices which accomplish all the personalizing operations simultaneously: embossing, encoding of the magnetic track and microcircuit encoding.
This invention seeks to offset the problems that result from slow functioning of the personalizing process for combination cards by optimizing the time-wise distribution of the tasks required for personalizing. Such an approach makes it possible to considerably improve the rate at which these cards are produced, thus cutting down on production costs. Another purpose of the invention is to provide a dual-purpose personalizing operation at moderate cost and one that is easy to install.